Type-writer-ribbon operating and feeding mechanism.



I J. ALEXANDER. v TYPE WRITER RIBBON OPERATING'AND FEEDING MECHANISM.

' 7 APPLICATION FILED IBBJH, 1909. 974,334, Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

-mm Illllllllllll "[11111] fi 91V iTmcooe/o (J mic vvfoz J. ALEXANDER.TYPE WRITER RIBBON OPERATING AND FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLIOATIONTILED PEB.18,1909.

Patented Nov. 1,1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.ttllrlvllal mill-III I I I III I I 1F- I l J. ALEXANDER.

TYPE WRITER RIBBON OPERATING AND FEEDING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILEDEEB.18,1909.

974,334. Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE ALEXANDER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, .ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF TO WTLLIAMALEXANDER ALBERT SGI-INAUIEFER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

.TYPE-WRITER-RIZBBON OPERATING AND FEEDING MECHANISM.

974,334. V I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov, 1, 1910,

Application filed February 18, 1909. Serial No. 478,572.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JEssE ALEXANDER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Type-Writer-Ribbon Operating andFeeding Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to improvements in typewriting machines, and isparticularly concerned with improvements in the ribbon operatingmechanism.

vThe invention is illustrated as applied to a so-called visiblewritingmachine in which the ribbon is supported upon spools at oppositesides of the machine frame and is caused to travel across the printingpoint intermittently.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for suchintermittent travel of the ribbon which shall be operated at eachprinting stroke, to provide means to prevent the overthrow of the ribbonand to provide means for shifting the position of the ribbon tocorrespond with the shifted position of the platen for upper and lowercase writing With these and other objects in View, the inventionconsists in the construction and arrangement of parts, a preferredembodiment'of which is illustrated in the accom-',

panying drawings, in which,

Figure 1' is a plan View of the machine illustrating my improvements,parts being removed for clear illustration, Fig. 2 s a verticalsectional view on the line 22 Fig: 1, looking toward the front. Fig. 3is a vertical sectional view from front to rear on the line 3-3 Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is a central sectional view on the line 1-4 from front to rear ofparts shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 Fig. 1.Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of the arts shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 isa detached etail view of parts of the ribbon operating mechanism. p

The embodiment of my invention herein selected for illustrationcomprises the machine frame 1 consisting of the usual side plates, uponwhich is supported a front plate 2 and the type bar segment 3. Upon thefront plate 2 and bar segment 3 are arranged the ribbon spool supportingplates 4 which are so mounted as to be readilyremoved to give access tothe ribbon actuating -ing tooth which may be readily mechanism. The suporting lates 4 carry dles 6 of t e ribbon spools are journaled.

Inasmuch as the spool mechanism on either side of the machine is thesame, a description of one will suflice for both.

The ribbon shaft 6 is provided at its lower end with a spool actuatingratchet wheel 7 and upon the upper end of the shaft the spool 8 may beremovably keyedin any desired manner. Referringto Fig. 6, means areprovided for retaining the spool shaft wlthln its bearing consisting ofa cross pin 9 which rests rotatably upon a shoulder 10 at the upper endof the bearin 6. This pin, furthermore, may serve ast e means for keyingthe spool-upon the shaft as indicated in Fig. 6. In order todisplacement of the spoo arm 11, which is fixed upon a post 12"rotatablymounted by means of a spindle 13 in a bearing 14 also carried b the suporting late 4. The stop arm 11 1s norma ly hel y means of a coil sprin15 on the spindle 13 over the spool shaft 6 thereby locking the s 001thereon when the same is in posltion. lso mounted upon the post 12 andspindle 13 is a brake arm 16, which, as shown inFig 'G,

IlC-

is adaptedwhen in normal position to tionally engage the spool shaft 6,the shoulder 10 of the spool shaft bearing 5 being cut away at 17 topermit such bearing. By this construction too freerotation of the ribbonspool andoverthrow thereof is efiectually prevented. To actuate theslidably. mounted upon a pin 19 upon the machine frame and is forcedoutward by a spring.l9' toward the ratchet wheel 7, the

upper end of which pawl extends across the ratchet wheel 7 and isprovided with a resilient ratchet engagin blade or tootlr20, best shownin Fig. 7 gaid blade is secured at its lower end to the awl by therivets 21 and its upper end is said pawl y means of a metal strip orring 22, so constructed as to permit free resilient play .of'the blade20' for effectual en a ement with the ratchet 7. The ob'ect t isconstruction is to provide a rate et enga and firmiy seated withinthe'teeth of the ratchet wheel but is sufliciently resilient to rideeasily over the ratchet teeth ,upon the return from its reventaccidental the upper end 0 ribbon spool, a pawl 18 is old looselyagainst actuating stroke. In order to further prevent the overthrow ofthe ribbon spool, I

provide a springarm 23 Fig. 1 suitably cured to a post 24 depending fromthe plate 4, theouter end of which spring arm is provided with a tooth25 arranged to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 7 and preventreverse movement thereof. I

' To actuate the ratchet pawls 18, the same are pivoted at their rearends to depending; rock arms 26 secured to a rock shaft 27 mountedwithin one of the supporting bars or tracks 28 of the. platen carriage,sald bar being provided with openings 29 at its lower side to permit 'ofsaid rocking movement of the rock arms 26. To actuate the rock shaft 27,the same is. provided with a depending lever 30, Figs. 4- and 7, slottedat 31 to receive a pin 32 carried by lug 33 depending from the frame 34which supports the universal bar 35, Fig. 2. In this instance theuniversal bar is positioned just through the universal bar support 34,the

universal bar is yieldingly held in contact with the rear of the typebar segment 3. Each type bar as shown in Fig. 3 is provided with ashoulder 41 which when the bar is in its printing position contacts withthe universal bar 35 and serves to move the same to the rear, therebythrough the con- ,nections between the universal bar sup port and rockshaft 27, above described, actuating the spool actuating pawls 18 at Ieach printing stroke.

In visible writing machinesfto which my lnvention as herein shown isapplied, it is necessary that the ribbon shall stand nor mally' justbelow'the printing point and shall be positioned over the printing pointjust before the type reaches the platen and then again returned to itsnormal position. To this end the ribbon support and guide 42 at thecenter of the machine is pivoted at its lower endto a lever 43, which,in turn, is

pivoted at 44 within a depending portion 45 of the platen shift frame46, which is fixed to a transverse rock shaft 47. Upon the rear of saidframe 46 is mounted a roller-carrying arm 48 bearing, the roller 49,which is adapted to en age a suitable and usual support of the p aten'carriage. The rear end of the'lever 43 is connected by means of a shortlink 50 to a post 51-carried by the universal bar support 34. By thisconstruction when the, universal bar sup moved to the rear by a type barthe ink 43 ort is is rocked upon its pivot 44 by the connectionsdescribed, thereby raising the ribbon support 42 to position the ribbonover the printing point.

In order to provide for the reversal of the travel of the ribbon atwill, a slide bar 52, Fig. 2, is'mounted upon screws 53 carried by thetype bar segment 3. This bar carries at either end forwardly extendingpins 54, which, as shown in Fig. 1, have their forward ends lyingadjacent to the inner sides. of the ribbon actuating pawls 18, wherebywhen said slide bar 52 is moved from one side to the other, one of saidpins 54 will disengage the corresponding actuating pawl 18 from itsratchet and the other'pin 54 will be so moved as'to permit engagement ofthe other spool actuating pawl with its ratchet 7. Simultaneously withthedisen-' gagement of the pawl 18 from its ratchet 7, the correspondingspring arm 23 is also disengaged therefrom, said arm being provided withan extension 55, Fig. 1, which lies in the path of the ratchet pawl 18,as shown in Fig. 3. For manual operation of the slide bar 52, the sameis provided with a depending finger 56, Fig 2, which may be readilyreached by the operator. I

I, In machines employing upper and lower case type, in which the platenis shifted for such upper and lower case printing, it is necessary thatthe normal position of the ribbon adjacent the printing point he corre'spondingly shifted in order that the same may be brought to operativeposition during the printing stroke. "To this end, therefore, the lever43, Fig. 3, which actuates the T111). bon support 42 is pivoted upon adepending portion 45 of the platen shift frame 46, as above described,so that when said shift frame is rocked to shift the platen, the lever43 through its pivot 44 will be moved for tion of the ribbon support toposition the ribbon over the printing point will then take place, asabove described. v

While the means for shifting the platen forms no part of the presentinvention, the same is herein illustrated for complete disclosure andconsists as shown in addition to the parts above referred to of the rockarms 57 attached to rock shaft 47, which'armsare arranged to be actuatedby upward extensions 58 of the platenshaftlevers 59, the latter beingpivoted at 60 upon the machine frame. r

While I have hereindescribed a particular embodiment of my invention, itis to be understood the same may be varied in details and relativearrangement of parts without I departing from the spirit or scopethereof.

What I claim is: p

1. In typewriter ribbon operating mechanism, a pair of ribbon spools,ratchet wheels ward and thus raise or shift the ribbon support 42, Thesubsequent intermittent actuaactuate said ribbon spools.

connected with said spools, actuating pawls for said wheels, each ofsaid pawls carrying a resilient wheel-engaging blade secured at one endof its pawl and free from said pawl at its wheel-engaging portion andmeans to limit the movement of the free end of said blade with respectto its pawl.

2. In typewriter ribbon operating mechanism, a pair of ribbon spools,ratchet wheels for said spools, actuating pawls cooperating with saidwheels, each of said pawls carrying a resilient wheel-engaging bladeextending alongside of its supporting pawl; said blade being freefroin'said pawl at its wheel-engaging portion and having limitedmovement relatively to said pawl at its.

free end, a universal bar, actuating connections between said bar andsaid pawls to 3. In typewriter 'rlbbon operating mechanism, a pair ofribbon spools, ratchet wheels for said spools, an actuatin pawlcooperating with each of said whee s, a spring-arm adjacent each of saidwheels and adapted to engage the same, means for disengaging andengaging said pawls from and with said wheels at will, and means forcausin said pawls simultaneously to disen age an permit' the engagementof sai sprin -arms with the corresponding wheels at wil 4. In typewriterribbon operating mechanism, a pair of ribbon spools, a ratchet wheel foreach of said s ools, an actuating pawl for each of said w eels, aspring-arm cooperating with each of said wheels respectively, anextension on each of said arms projecting transversely of the adjacentpawl, means for engaging and disen aging said pawls from said ratchetwhee s, sald extensions on said spring-arms being so arranged that theen agement and disengagement of said paw s from said wheels will causesimultaneous engagement and disengagement of said spring-arms with saidwheels, respectively.

In typewriter ribbon operating mechanism, a pair of ribbon spools,ratchet wheels for said spools, 'actuatmg pawls for said wheels, each ofsaid awls carrying a resilient wheel-enga ing b ade, said blades beingfree from sai awls at their wheelengaging portions, an means to limitthe movement of the free portions of said blades away from theirrespective pawls.

6. In typewriter ribbon operating mechanism, a pair of. ribbon spools,ratchet wheels for said spools, actuatmg pawls for said wheels, each ofsaid awls carryin a flexible wheel-engaging bl iide, said bla es beingfree from said pawls at their wheelengagingportions, a band surroundingeach of sald pawls and its resilient blade to limit the movement of saidblade away from said pawl.

JESSE ALEXANDER. Witnesses:

CHAS. A. Pram), M. E. GARRETT.

